Yelp ventures into Asia through Singapore debut

Online community review site Yelp launched a local version of its website on Friday, which lets Singapore residents post reviews of local businesses including restaurants, shopping and entertainment centres, laundry services and even dentists. On Yelp, users can voice their experiences at a particular business and rate the business along a five-star scale. Each review can be further rated by other users as “useful”, “funny”, or “cool”. They can also add “friends” and stay connected through the site’s various smartphone apps. If this sounds familiar, that’s because local website HungryGoWhere – acquired by SingTel earlier this year for S$12 million – already has a somewhat similar service in operation, but with a focus on restaurants and other eateries. Some features, such as “checking-in” to businesses to earn “Dukedoms”, special offers, and virtual badges are also similar...